The second year class at Harvard Med is staging a completely student-written, directed and produced show this weekend at the Roxbury Community Theater! Our inspiration this year is The Hangover, and it is truly hilarious. I say this not only as one of the writers of the show but as an admirer of the wonderful and multitudinous talents in my class that will be on display.

I’m beyond excited. Never have I been in a room where 75+ of my peers read lines that I’d penned aloud to each other, eliciting laughter every single time. Wow.

1. Freedom: This one’s first, and is probably synonymous with privilege. The privilege of being young, in relatively good health, the financial freedom that my parents have afforded me, the intellectual privilege of being in medical school.

2. Wisdom: 2011 has been a turbulent year, and it still has four weeks to go. This year, I found myself making lists of some of my biggest fears – finding myself in a career that I am not passionate about, compromising on the once-dream of being a Renaissance woman, deviating from the life-trajectory timeline I had once envisioned, etc etc. After many an introspective night, I decided that I was okay with resting on an ever-shifting center of gravity, and that true happiness comes from being comfortable with the less-than-perfect.

3. Health: Few of us are fortunate enough to be in perfect health. I am not one of those, but definitely still mobile, intelligent, and strong. I aspire now to be the kind of person who, when confronted with illness, can still be counted on to stay the same person I ever was.

4. Youth: As a patient told me in the wards this year: I am at the stage of my life when all that is expected of me is to study, learn and imbibe. Life is simple. Cherishing it.

5. Family: My family is and has always been my rock. My nightly calls to mom, my dad’s terrible singing, creeping into my sister’s bed at nights and laughing at her mock-irritation. What would I do without those three?!